The Human Space Invaders

Pretty cool. Can't wait to see Centipede and Pac Man.

"Idol" Nonsense

Strange idol happenings...So yesterday, I was at Borders bookstore, where I spied a new Billy Idol Release: The Very Best of Billy Idol - Idolize Yourself. This sparked a bit of nostalgia for me, since I art directed the last Greatest Hits album which was designed by Rob Fisher, who is best known for his Nirvana: Nevermind album art that sold bazillions. Anyway, I stopped and took a minute to admire the new packaging created by famouso artiste, Shepard Fairey.

Fast Forward to this morning.

I had a doctor appt. and as I was waiting for my appointment, scanned an old issue of MOJO magazine, that covered late 70s Punk, and early 80s New Wave, which included...Billy Idol of course along with Generation X. I looked at photos of the young Idol as he looked during the Gen X days.

After the appt., I had to quickly rush to catch a plane to SF. Low and behold in the airplane lobby is none other than... who else? BILLY IDOL himself. Our flight had been delayed - I guess Mr. Idol was on his way to give a concert tonight at the Fillmore. WEIRD.

I want one of these...

This concept product from Glueglue Design is an "Old School" cane used to stamp out those "dissin'" whippersnappers, with their "rap music and hepcat attitudes." The end of the cane has a self-inking stamp that simply says the word RESPECT. Next time a baggy pants fool gives you his "YO! YO! YO!" attitude, and waves his fake mtv gangsta signs, stamp him in the head with this one!

Wow! I could've played a V-8!

Zannel

A new Mobile Social App, Zannel...allows you to post images and text from your phone...kinda like Twiter

Cheeto Chuck Norris

So apparently someone just bought a Cheeto shaped like Chuck Norris for $16 bucks off of Ebay. The description was something along the lines of it "looking like Chuck with his fists up, completing a round-house kick." A year ago, someone bought a Jesus-shaped Cheeto or "Cheesus" for $1000.It makes me want to look at every single Cheeto I eat in the future for fun and profit.

Ahhhh!!! Geek Out!

My inner geek is coming out as I have stumbled upon pics of Zachary "Sylar" Quinto's role as Mr. Spock. Of course my expectations are nil for the film, since I am a fan of the OG series, and have been less than enthusiastic of any endeavor since. Sylar was a great choice for playing the young Spock - as you can see, he does look a lot like Nimoy.

Life Imitates Apes

Damn! Damn! Damn! How did those Damn Dirty Apes know? 40 years later - who would have guessed that life would imitate art.
1968's hit movie, Planet of The Apes showed a scene where captured Astronauts, Landon and Dodge meet a fate of being stuffed humans for display in the Apes' museum - a statement of our own Natural History museums. The last few years have seen the trend of the Human Body exhibits seen throughout the world. I have not gone to one yet, but I do find it very strange. At first, I felt it was like going to draw at the morgue, back at City College for a life drawing class, so it felt like a very "artistic" endeavor. I recently saw a expose on 20/20 that had a hidden camera tracking down the Merchants of cadavers,that included a suspician that the bodies up for sale in China, were thought to be patients from prison. Legit or not, I'm not sure if I would "bone up the bucks" for this one.

This is a tattoo that I designed for a friend of mine, who lost her beloved dog, Peanut recently. She had some of Peanut's ashes mixed in with the blackline work. The next step is the coloring, which the tat artist did a color comp of, from my b&w file.

Pin-Up At the Drawing Club - Jennifer Fabbos Patton

Here is my attempt at a Elvgren-like pinup, including the exaggerated "big eyes, arched eyebrows" thing. I enjoyed doing this, but needed smaller brushes for details. You can see the other studies from the open studio, on thedrawingclub.com , including paintings from my friends, Benton Jew and Anson jew

The Trashwomen!

Seeing my friend, Benton's post on his blog from our poster, I had to post this.

Harem Girl

Here is my latest quick sketch painting. Still working with a limited palette, but will be switching out to a full palette this Sunday, for Bob Cato's Workshop

Kara Walker Exhbit - Hammer Museum

Last weekend I went to see Kara Walker speak at the Hammer Museum. Her work is primarily silhouettes ala turn of the century....with a twist. Mostly based on black slavery, there is always an addition of things like poop, sex and violence when you look closely at the details. Anyway, she stuck around and signed her book, and as an added bonus, I saw Leonard Nimoy and got his autograph too!

Visiting L.A.? Check out my Recommendations!

Recent reviews by Darren J W.

What's this?

Now I'm REALLLLLY feeling old!

So here it is, folks, the 25TH Anniversary release of the ultra famous album, THRILLER by the once black entertainer, Michael Jackson. I can't believe it has been so long. I was a mere Sophomore when MJ's sophomore album came out. The videos,were the most memorable from lighting sidewalk squares on "Billy Jean" to the almost comical "Beat It" video where MJ acts like a tough guy in a Westside Story-type scenario. Comical, I say..but every dude i knew tried learning the moves. How could one not forget the hype and anticipation for the over the top cinematic John Landis "Thriller" video? Nothing like it at the time, with the crazy FX...my friend, Wilber bought a vinyl version of the red leather jacket too - and boy was he cool for it! and yes..we all learned the dance on that one too. The catchy "PYT-Pretty Young Thing" was sort of a naughty ditty, that would take on a whole new meaning later in MJ's career(2X in fact). The wimpy duet, "The Girl Is Mine" marks a pinnacle point in music for this relationship prompted Sir Paul to open his big mouth of advice to MJ about buying publishing rights...John and George are spinning around(and NOT Moonwalking) in their graves for all eternity. The album is solid except for the sappy "Lady In My Life" I have to say that this is one of the most played albums I have ever owned,and will probably buy it for old times sake.

Maude - Latest Painting

After 5 months, I finally got a chance to paint in open studio, the model, Maude was dressed in 20's costume. very cool

Sad News, Indeed...

Today, I just read the passing of a huge icon from my childhood, Evil Knievel. Now, he almost is one of those celebs that you have to look at the "Who's Dead/Who's Alive" website to check his status (I still don't know Abe Vigoda's status), but he is def. in the dead catagory now. My cousin, Roddy and I would be so excited to see his next stunt broadcasted on television, in a time where it actually was not a "Pay-Per-View" event. The hype alone was enough to make a kid go on an anxious "high" that not even Christmas could compete. I remembered watching his famed Snake Canyon jump where he parachuted to safety. The best was his jump over a bunch of buses, which inspired the Happy Days stunt of Fonzie jumping over various vehicles, and of course the shark tank, which coined the phrase "jumping the shark" so I guess indirectly Evil was responsible for that too. My fondest memory was having the Evil Knievel Stunt Cycle which provided hours of kid-joy jumping over make-shift furniture and stryrofoam cup obstacles. His stunts and supefly Elvis-inspired chops and jumpsuits are going to be etched in my pop-culture mind forever!

More Paintings

This last month has found me back in the open studios of Los Feliz and LA Academy of Figurative Art. Last term at LAFIG, I took Rick Morris who was a really good instructor, who pushed me to try a different approach ot my painting. From his class, I learned about Anders Zorn's limited palette of only Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre and Cad. Med. Red. Since then, I have been hooked on just using those colors to acheive your range of colors for your painting. I plan to stick with this for a while and gradually expand my palette again. Here are two studies from this month - 3 hour sessions.

What Keeps Spinning On My Music Player?

Genius. What can I say? I have never looked too deeply into Blues except during the last 2-3 years. When I came across Mississippi John Hurt's music, I have not been able to stop listening to him. His best work was from the OKEH label and there is a complete recordings CD put out by Columbia as part of the Roots & Blues series. Its not your expected gritty gravelly voiced blues that has become synomis with Blues, it is some clever writing - racy lyrics, mellow voice, and incredible fingerpicking. Recommended to all.

Uke sells for a grand!

good news! the painted uke sold for $1000 at auction. I'm glad that the money is going to a good cause, and certainly glad that the piece was appreciated.